The Culture Of Corruption Claims Another Democrat

The Associated Press reports that Matt Brown, Rhode Island's Democratic secretary of state, abandoned his bid to replace Rhode Island's Republican U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee. Brown ended his campaign after questions surfaced over his fund-raising practices.

In a statement on the Matt Brown for US Senate website, Brown cited money problems and said he does not intend to run for re-election as secretary of state. It was the money that torpedoed Brown's campaign.

Brown has acknowledged asking his most generous donors to contribute money to state Democratic parties in Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts after those parties gave his campaign $25,000. The donors had already contributed the maximum amount allowed by law to Brown's campaign.

That undercut Brown's platform of clean government and campaign finance reform.

I first read about this scandal a month ago in an Associated Press article in The Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The story was interesting because it concerned Hawaii Democrats contributing to a U.S. Senate candidate in Rhode Island who was still competing for the party's nomination:

The Hawaii Democratic Party contributed $5,000 to Brown despite the fact the local party has carefully avoided giving any support to either of the primary election candidates in their own U.S. Senate race between incumbent Sen. Daniel Akaka and Rep. Ed Case.

In December, the Hawaii Democrats were asked to donate to the Brown campaign and sent Brown $5,000. In early January, the Hawaii Democratic Party received a $6,000 from a Rhode Island man. The contributor, a member of Brown's campaign committee, had already given Brown the $4,200 maximum allowed contribution. The Brown campaign gained $5,000 it couldn't have received otherwise, and the Hawaii party made $1,000 profit.

Similar contributions were also made to state Democratic parties in Massachusetts and Maine. Those parties also contributed to Brown.

If these donations may have violated federal election law:

It's illegal for an organization to pass on contributions in someone else's name, said an official for the Federal Elections Commission.

The Star-Bulletin reported the Hawaii Republican Party Chairman Sam Aiona wanted the Federal Elections Commission to investigate the matter, But the FEC would investigate only if someone filed a complaint.

So the Hawaii Republican Party filed a complaint accusing Democrats in Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts of illegally laundering campaign money:

"There is reason to believe that the Brown campaign provided an alleged contribution laundering scheme, whereby it steers donors to the Hawaii, Maine and Massachusetts state parties, with the explicit or implicit agreement that the state parties would in turn contribute to the Brown campaign," according to the complaint, read to the Associated Press by Nakano, that was to be filed with the Federal Elections Commission.

Brown isn't the first Democrat to quit over this campaign finance scandal. The Boston Globe reported that the chairman of the Maine Democratic Party acknowledged that he resigned in part because the scheme to help bankroll Brown's U.S. Senate campaign, which he called "a mistake in judgment."

This contribution laundering scheme reminds me of the scheme that has Tom Delay fighting criminal charges.

Comments

[Shawn]

First off, neither party is squeaky clean. Never have been, never will be. That said, it's laughable that you would compare Brown to Delay, or any other Democrat to what the Republicans have been doing the last decade. K-Street Project, Abramoff (strictly a Republican problem, especially Delay), phone jamming in NH in 2002, gerrymandering TX (Tommy-boy again), Mariana Islands (i.e. slave labor and prostitution – Delay’s fingerprints yet again), Enron's collapse (Lay, Bush and massive energy deregulation courtesy of the Republican Party), Valerie Plame (Rove's about to go down), oil price gouging (you think the oil administration will do anything meaningful?)

I could go on forever, which is sad because I really don't want to. This current Republican party is corrupt to the core – far worse than the Democrats in '94. It's going to be painful for you guys after '06 when Dems gain control of the House and real investigations start.